The use of air beds or air mattresses is well known, and includes the use thereof as a camping bed or mattress as well as for use in recreational pursuits, for example at the beach or poolside, or as temporary bedding for travelers and house guests. In order to make usage of the air mattress more comfortable as the user's skin may stick to the vinyl or plastic used to form the mattress, it is oftentimes desirable to shield or cover the face of the air mattress on which the user lies or reclines so as to insulate the user from the vinyl or plastic material of the air mattress. This is often done by placing a sheet or pad of some type on the sleeping surface or face of the air mattress. This may comprise, for example, a sleeping bag, a fitted sheet, or a conventional bed sheet placed on or about the air mattress.
A common problem that typically arises, no matter what type of padding or sheet is used, however, is that the air mattress size and shape likely varies from “standard” non-air mattress sizes such that conventional fitted or plain hemmed sheets will not fit well on the mattress. For example a fitted sheet of known construction tends not to stay wrapped about or received on an air mattress as air mattresses are typically sized smaller than a corresponding mattress size, for example a single or a full sized mattress, so that the fitted sheets still fit loosely about the air mattress and tend to be pulled off of the air mattress during use.
Additionally, most air mattresses are formed of a smooth-surfaced plastic material to which cloth sheets or sleeping bags will not adhere, such that the sleeping bag or sheets will slide on or over the air mattress rather than stay wrapped thereabout. Moreover, the size and shape of air mattresses, and in particular the face and perimeter wall portion thereof, tend to vary as the user moves on the mattress due to the compressibility of the air within the mattress and the flexibility of the mattress face and sidewall such that any padding or cover placed thereon tends to move or slide off of the mattress surface with the movements of the user.
One common example of a type of padding used on an air mattress, resorted to by a great many users, is to place a conventional sleeping bag on the mattress. Although sleeping bags are well padded, they are not generally adapted to be fit to, on, or about an air mattress, with the result that the sleeping bag moves or travels on or over the surface of the mattress during use. Also, sleeping bags may tend to be too thickly padded such that when used with an air mattress in a warm weather environment, the user may become too hot and thus sleep poorly or restlessly.
What is needed, therefore, but seemingly unavailable in the art, is an air mattress having a padded covering which may be placed on at least the sleeping surface or face of an air mattress and which will remain positioned on, i.e., resist movement off of, the air mattress during use.